We’re about to depart Bigland Towers for a weekend in Cambridgeshire, driving down to Peterborough which we’ll be using as tonight’s base. But first, we’ve got to get there – and have a barbecue to attend. Let’s see how the trip goes. Updates and pictures to follow…
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Having thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cambridgeshire it’s time to head back to the Pennines. Everyone’s sad to leave as our accomodation has been excellent and really restful. Dawn’s mooted the idea of basing ourselves down here for a week and working from the chalet. Maybe next year as the new section of East-West rail will be passing less than a few hundred meters away!
Colourful Cambs. We passed this field most days. It’s been seeded with a selection of wildflowers to attract insects. Afterwards the plants will be plowed back into the ground to improve the soil.
We’re not rushing back. The plan is to stop en-route with our first port of call being Stamford, Lincolnshire…
22:30.
Yep, I know – another crap ‘rolling’ blog. Sorry about that but we were on busy roads when we weren’t stopped so my primary focus was on being the human interface between the satnav and Dawn driving in order to make things easier for her. Having dropped off John and Norah at their gaffe we’re at home in the Calder valley I can catch up on the day.
We did stop off at Stamford, which was an ideal pitstop. If you’ve never been it’s well worth a visit as it’s a very well preserved town with attractive buildings constructed from the local limestone. John and Norah had never visited before so were suitably impressed, whilst Dawn and I had stayed their in a very swanky hotel as part of a wedding present from an ex-colleague of Dawn’s (thank you Martin Yallop!) who then showed us around the town.
This time we discovered somewhere new and ideal in this warm weather. Having parked near the railways station our wandering took us over the river into the centre of town where I spotted that the Millstone Inn was advertising it’s beer garden. Beer, in a garden of a historic pub? Why not? Then we saw the garden, which we all fell in love with as it’s top notch. Forget a few benches and a couple of plastic tubs of geraniums – this is class!
Just out of shot to the right is a little kiosk selling home-made pizzas.
We finally tore ourselves away and explored further. Friday’s market day and Stamford has one of the most extensive markets I’ve seen for a while, its tendrils spread down several side-streets as well as some of the main pedestrianised area. There’s a decent variety too, it’s not just tat and safety ware. There’s fresh fruit and veg, plants aplenty and some original artworks .
Mind you, Stamford is rather more upmarket than some places (Huddersfield eat your heart out) as many independent shops like this demonstrate.
Then there’s lovely buildings like this. The old Almshouses on Station Rd opposite the George hotel.
We eventually tore ourselves away from Stamford in order to revisit Rutland Water and stop for lunch – having packed supplies before we left. The area’s lovely although the Whitwell leisure park area was a little disappointing compared to our previous stop at Sykes Lane (far nicer). The area was far more commercial which is fine if you want to hire bikes or indulge in some of the other activities on offer – or even take a cruise, but the place had a prevelant smell of poo which we couldn’t work out the source of.
All aboard the ‘Rutland Belle’ for a cruise around the reservoir…
Now we’re home, getting used to being back in the Pennines. Oh, and stairs…
Tomorrow temperatures are still expected to be in the mid-20’s so we’ll see what we get up to. The ‘plan’ is to make the most of the late summer and get out for a walk somewhere. We shall see…
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Today’s been the last full day of our break here in Cambridgeshire and it’s co-incided with the hottest day of the year. I’d planned for a day out exploring some of the local rail network to keep up with recent changes and also amass some shots for a client so my day began early and I was so happy it did. Unlike previous mornings where I walked out to a blanket of fog, I was greeted by this sunrise when I walked out onto the verandah at 06:30.
Dawn was up early too in order to give me a lift through to Cambridge North, the nearest railhead to where we’re staying. So, within short order I was out at Ely to capture a series of shots like this.
East Midland Railway’s 170513 is seen with the backdrop of Ely cathedral whilst working 1L04, the 06:42 Sheffield to Norwich.
Having exhausted the photographic possibilities at Ely I headed back to Cambridge and on to Foxton where I’d been hoping to catch one of the spoilt trains moving High Speed 2 tunnel boring waste to the nearby Barrington tip – only the bloody thing was cancelled. I hadn’t visited the station for donkey’s years so it gave me chance to update library shots like this – and get shots of the signalbox.
387107 and 387301 arrive at Foxton whilst working 2C16, the 0927 London Kings Cross to Cambridge.
Fortunately, the signaller was fast at unlocking the wicket gates at the station so I managed to hot-foot it across the tracks to catch this service after taking its picture. Back in Cambdridge well ahead of schedule and with the sun literally cracking the flags I caught a bus out to the site of the new Cambridge South station to get pictures of the work progressing.
Thameslink’s 700029 passes the site of the new Cambridge South station whilst working 9S16, the 0914 Brighton to Cambridge.Looking the opposite way towards the bridge the previous picture was taken from, here’s how work’s progressing on the new Cambridge South station.
By now it was early afternoon with the temperature hitting the low 30s, so I decided to call it a day, head back into Cambridge and enjoy a cold beer with an old friend from 45 years ago. The Old Waiting Room at the station was an ideal rendezvous before I caught a bus out to St Ives to catch up with the Platt’s and get a lift back to the chalet where relaxing and basking in the sun for an hour was preferable to a hot and sweaty trot around the rail network. Normally, I wouldn’t have let that bother me but as it was our last night we’d booked to go out for a meal at a local pub, so having the chance of a shower and change of clothes beforehand was very much the order of the day. Besides, I’ll be back…
Now the day’s almost over and we’re all chilin’ at the cabin after enjoying a lovely meal at the George and Dragon pub in nearby Elseworth.
Belly pork with sweet potato chips and salad. Delicious, but it doesn’t leave any room for pudding!
Tomorrow we begin the journey back to West Yorkshire, although we’ll be making a couple of stops on the way…
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Only a short blog (with several pictures) from me today. We’ had a late start due to recharging yesterdays batteries but also because – despite another day of high temperatures, fog hung around our chalet until quite late this morning.
Once we were on the road we made it over the border into Essex as we visited the old market town of Saffron Walden, South of Cambridge. It’s a lovely little town with some historic buildings, a lovely feel and sights like the fine parish church and the beautifully restored Bridge End garden.
Here’s a few pictures from our trip.
A classic collection of old houses in Castle Street, Saffron Walden.Bridge End Garden.The walled garden at Bridge End contains varieties of old English apples, identified by these brass tags. The town’s more than it’s fair share of old timbered buildings like this – although the pub sign has a modern twist on the ‘Cross’ Keys…
We lingered longer than we’d intended but wanted to have a quick look at St Neots (a 45 min drive away) but as it was such a hot say we ended up at this old Mill on the Great Ouse, South of the town
The River Mill, just off the Great North Rd at Eaton Socon, South of St Neots.
I’ll flesh out more details tomorrow if I can. Right now it’s time to call it a day as I’m having a solo adventure tomorrow…
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Today we only had one destination in mind. The Imperial War Museum’s airfield at Duxford. We knew there was so much to see that we gave ourselves an entire day to see it – and we were very glad we did! Even we hadn’t appreciated just how large the aircraft collections are – and it’s not just aircraft either (more about that later).
We’d also decided on an early start as we knew today was going to be a hot-one weatherwise, although you wouldn’t have known that at 07:30 this morning. This was the view from our verandah with early morning mist obscuring the nearby fishing ponds – hardly flying weather – even for Ducks!
Now, unless you have an interest in aircraft and military or social history, Duxford probably isn’t for you. It’s not cheap to get in, and adult ticket (with a donation included) is £29, but when you see what’s preserved there and what goes on in the way of aircraft restoration and maintenance, you realise it’s not an bad price to pay. The museum’s also still an active airfield, so there’s always a series of aircraft taking off and landing with some providing commercial trips. Today this varied from civil light aircraft through to vintage Tiger Moth biplanes and a twin seater Spitfire, PT462. Costs vary considerably, with the Spitfire (understandably) being the most expensive, but if you have a spare few grand in your back pocket…
There was a procession of other aircraft in the air too. Single-seater Spitfires and Hurricanes kept the air full of the sound of Rolls Royce Merlin engines, as did an American P51 ‘Mustang’. The bigger aircraft stayed on the ground today but a PBY ‘Catalina’ flying boat and an American B17 ‘Flying Fortress’ basked in the sun for all to admire. Here’s a few pictures from our visit.
North American AT-16 Harvard IIB.You don’t normally see a German V1 rocket displayed on the original ‘ski ramp’ launcher complete with propellant system. The old hangers and buildings are stuffed with aircraft and other memorabilia from the site’s time as an operational military airfield. Hurricane Mk1 No V7497 was built in 1940 and is back in the air. You can learn more about the aircraft here.A Sea Fury under restoration in one of the hangers. They way some of these planes are restored to airworthiness when some are little more than wrecks is truly amazing. Some of the aircraft aren’t what you’d called tiddlers. Here’s a Handley Page Victor, built as one of the V-bombers that carried the UKs original nuclear deterrent. In the same hall is one of the two surviving TSR-2 aircraft. The project was cancelled before the planes went into service, sparking lots of debate as to how good they *could* have been to this day. Fans of the spoof Twitter site ‘RAF Luton’ will know this aircraft well as the English Electric Canberra features all the time. This brought memories for John as he maintained these planes out in Cyprus during his national service.
As well as aircraft there’s a whole building dedicated to land warfare at the far end of the site. This includes tanks and guns from world war 1 onwards, with some of the most recent being the most sobering as they’re fighting in the Ukraine right now. Former Soviet Union BMP1 and BTR80 armoured personnel carriers are used by both sides, whilst 14 of the British Challenger 2 tanks on display with them have been supplied to the Ukrainians (the first one ever to be destroyed in combat was reported today).
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The summer we’ve never had arrived with a vengeance today. Here in the middle of nowhere we woke up to clear blue skies and mist over the fishing ponds, which made for quite a sight. Breakfast over we piled into the car to drive to the Madingley Road park and ride site to the West of Cambridge, where we swapped the car for a bus to get us into the centre of town. It’s a great service. Good quality double-decker buses run every 10 minutes and cost £3.50 return. Helping to keep Cambridge traffic and pollution free and be the sort of city I wish more UK towns aspired to, rather being in the thrall of the motoring lobby.
. Once in the centre of town we had a wander to find options for onward travel. I’ve visited Cambridge several times although I’ve not explored the city centre for a while. The Platt’s have never done so. Dawn had hit on a plan of taking her parents on the open-top bus tour, which would allow them to see the sights and save their legs. So, whilst they did that I took the camera for a walk to indulge two of my other loves, architecture and street photography.
I love looking around a place where you come across completely random stuff like this. Ever wonder where the expression ‘Hobson’s Choice’ came from? Wonder no more…
My perambulations took me back to Bridge Street which was familiar territory. I was only when I got there and sat down to watch the world go by that I realised ‘familiar’ was 22 years in the past! The last time I’d been here was when I was living in London and I took my ‘daughter’ here. I should explain. I don’t actually have a daughter but a young lady whom Lynn and I first met in Australia and who came to stay with us in London called us ‘Mum and Dad’ so we reciprocated.
Here’s how Bridge St looked during our visit in 2001. Here’s how it looks today.
I hung around here as I wanted to catch pictures of the way people travel in out and around a city that isn’t choked by cars. Here’s a couple of examples.
Active travel. A carry bike that can be used for numerous things, from children to shopping, business to leisure. Inactive travel and a form I have issues with. E-scooters. What problem are they actually solving? Even the regulated ones litter the streets. Unregulated ones are even worse as they’re not speed limited (you really don’t want to get hit by either) and from my experience in various countries they’re mostly used by young people for joyriding rather than as an alternative to other transport modes – except walking.
Here’s an inactive mode Cambridge has become synonymous with, but what the hell! It only expends someone’s muscle power and adds a lot of money to the local economy as hiring these punts ain’t cheap!
Tomorrow we’re having a different experience as we’re visiting the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. John (Dawn’s dad) did his National Service in the RAF, so there’s family history as well has national history here.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It may be tardy but summer’s finally arrived. We’ve had great weather all day here in Cambridgeshire, although looking at the stressed state of some of the local trees I suspect there’s been a lot less rain here over the summer than we’ve had up in God’s own country.
After a leisurely morning we headed over to Ely, a town I’m very familiar with but one the Platt family had never visited before. On the way in I gave the folks a bit of a run-down on local history, including that of why there’s now a Southern bypass due to the number of HGVs that used to get stuck on the level crossing or jammed under the adjacent low bridge. I’d no idea how useful a lesson it would be until we parked at the station and prepared to walk down to the river. All of a sudden there was a hell of a bang and crunching noise from behind the trees masking the road. I knew what had happened straight away. This…
And the moral of the story is – always know the height of your vehicle…
To add to the drivers distress and embarrassment, there was a weeding party a few meters away who were about to board this vehicle. Needless to say, the wedding guests phone cameras were out capturing pictures of the added entertainment. Nice bus tho’…
Walking into town the Platt’s first stop was Costa coffee, which gave me chance to dash to the tourist office for leaflets, check out a few of the sightseeing opportunities and grab a swift pint before we moved on to the Cathedral. You don’t have to be religious or an architectural buff to appreciate the magnificence of Ely cathedral (although they’d help) as it’s truly a stunning building with a fascinating history.
Looking up into the cathedral tower…
The family were all impressed and moved by the building and the atmosphere within it. If you ever get chance to visit – do. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Having done our spiritual duties we moved onto more temporal concerns by stopping for a drink by the river Great Ouse at the Cutter Inn which has a great selection of food and drink – as well as great views along the river. We managed to bag a table outside which allowed views like this.
Two excellent forms of transport meet at Ely.
Whilst we were relaxing we were rudely interrupted by this critter above us – which we hadn’t even noticed until it started cooing like it was auditioning for a part in a Cuckoo clock!
Good to see those anti pigeon spikes work. Having seen the way this Dove’s defeated static defenses I can only assume it must be Ukrainian…
Now we’re back at home, relaxing and digesting the excellent coq au vin that Dawn had set up in the slow cooker before we left. Tomorrow we head to Cambridge – another first for the Platts…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Good morning from Saxon mound (as this collection of chalets is named). I was up first and had a lovely solo interlude sitting on the balcony overlooking the lakes, sipping coffee whilst watching the Coot, Ducks and Herons on the fishing lakes. Now the house is awake and the rest of the family are indulging in the same sport. Thankfully, I remembered to bring the binoculars this time!
Now it’s time for a leisurely breakfast before heading out to explore. Feel free to pop back and see what we get up to…
19:30. Well that was a crap ‘rolling blog’, wasn’t it? The reality was we were too busy moving around and I was too busy acting as tour guide and Dawn’s navigator to be able to update the blog. So from now on I’ll only do a daily update – bearing in mind I’m in company and meant to be on holiday. I could write volumes about today as we visited some really interesting places, many of which I’ve never seen before. Our first stop was to explore the nearby village where we just had to stop so that I could get a picture of this.
Moving on our first proper stop was at St Ives (no, not the one in Cornwall) which is a lovely little place with shedloads of history, a relaxed feel and some lovely buildings. There’s also a very rare bridge across the river in that it’s only one of four left in the country that contains a chapel as part of its structure.
The bridge across the Ouse at St Ives has a fascinating history. The old chapel in the centre is one of only four left and that’s had an interesting and varied life too… “You – boy” – the statue of Cromwell in St Ives.
We really enjoyed our visit to St Ives – a place we’ll be popping back to again before we go as it’s only up the road. Our next stop? Maybe not – although Huntingdon was interesting in a different way. The old county town certainly has a lot of history. It was the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, became a battleground between Royalists and Cavaliers during the English Civil War, and has later political ‘form’ as the constituency of former Conservative Prime Minister John Major. The town centre’s been knocked about a bit since I was last here 30 years ago, but there’s still a lot of old buildings that remain, including a lovely old pub called the Falcon Tavern at the back of the market square. I spotted it so popped in for a pint when I was checking out the sights whilst the rest of the family had gone for their Costa coffee fix. Having seen the Falcon had Hopback ‘Summer Lightning’ on tap and outside seating in the sun I couldn’t resist. As usual, my camera proved a talking point and I soon ended up in conversation with some of the pub regulars who were an interesting and eclectic bunch. Lets put it this way, I don’t think any of them voted for John Major when he was the sitting MP!
Once the combined coffee/beer break was over I took the trio to the Cromwell museum in the square. Its’ only small but a really interesting place as it makes you realise some what you thought you knew about Cromwell (and the Puritans) was Victorian make-believe. The very helpful and informative young lady staffing the single-room museum really added to our visit thanks to her own knowledge and interest in Cromwell. There’s good reasons for the Scots, Welsh and Irish to have an intense dislike of him but the idea that he ‘abolished’ Christmas (that was Parliament, not Cromwell) or that he was intolerant of other faiths and denominations (he wasn’t) are fictions. Oh, the idea the Puritans always wore black is cobblers too. Apparently, black dye was expensive, so they were far more colourful than people think.
Versions of Cromwells death mask on display in the museum. A single-room museum that fits a lot in. I’d certainly recommend a visit.
Suitably enlightened we headed home to enjoy the rest of the evening rejoicing in the dying rays of the sun before Dawn got her chef’s hat on and cooked the evening meal. Nothing fancy today – we just had fish and chips, but what a great end to the day!
Relaxing after tour guide duties.Time to eat…
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Well, almost! I’m sat at Dawn’s parents. Having repacked the car with all our stuff we’re just waiting for Madame, who’s gone off to have her nails done whilst we sorted out the jigsaw of suitcases, shoes and jackets plus the bags of condiments and spices we always take with us. The weather’s done its best to delay us by throwing the odd shower our way but the job’s done. Now we’re waiting on our driver…
13:20.
We’re now en-route…
13:55.
The joy of the M1 motorway – but only for 11 miles before we cut across country to the A1.
14:45.
Having left the M1 we cut across country on the A57 which passes South of Worksop.It’s not the most scenic of routes, it’s also very busy. But anyone who remembers the miners strike of 1984-85 will recognise some of the names – like Manton, and Thoresby.
A lot of housing in the area looks like it was built by the council or National Coal Board. Unlovely houses for the most, many haven’t improved as now it’s like living in a car-park as what once were gardens have been concreted over.
Right now we’re heading South on the A1, fortunate that we’re not going in the opposite direction as an accident by the junction where we joined the road has caused a tailback several miles long.
17:00.
We’ve made a slight detour to a very pleasant place to stop for coffee where you can admire the scenery. Rutland Water.
19:00.
We’ve arrived, unloaded the car and started to settle in. We’re all really impressed with the accommodation, which is one of a new group of five chalets just outside the village of Elsworth.
There’s certainly plenty of space…Both bedrooms are doubles. This one’s en-suite. The other has a bathroom opposite. The chalets are constructed from ‘timber’ made from recycled plastic so both hard wearing and eco-friendly. The view from the deck which overlooks a pair of well-stocked fishing lakes. There’s a tackle shop on site. The woods in the background are a SSSI so protected and off limits.
It seems that even here I can’t get away from railways! In 1946 the local church recruited a new Rector. His name? The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who wrote the ‘Thomas the tank engine’ children’s books! Apparently, there’s a blue plaque in his honor on the vicarage, which I’ll have to seek out.
22:15.
Time to bring this blog to a close. The trip down here was pretty good and what we’ve seem on our foray to the Waitrose supermarket in St Ives makes us want to spend tomorrow reconnoitering the area so we can decide where we’d like to spend more time. The weather’s certainly a lot better than where we’ve come from and the forecast is looking good. I might even be able to break out the shorts and sandals!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
The last blog of August’s only a short one as the pair of us are preparing for a few days away in Cambridgeshire starting tomorrow which means there’ll be a series of blogs and pictures from a different neck of the woods for a while. Dawn found an interesting opportunity at some new lodges where the price was just too good to resist, so we’re heading down there with her parents for a few days R&R in the hope we might actually get some summer weather. The place we’re staying at is just 30 mins away from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford which Dee’s dad (who did his national service in the RAF) has always wanted to explore. We went once to see the recreation of a WW2 ‘big wing’ which brought 22 Spitfire aircraft together but we’ve never explored the museum building or static aircraft exhibits so we thought. it’s time we did. Mind you, I’m the only one who knows Cambridgeshire, for the Platt family it’s pretty much virgin territory, so I’m going to be wearing a tour guide’s hat for the next week as I show them around the likes of Cambridge and Ely.
I’ll be having one day off to do some railway stuff which will give me another opportunity for blogging as I explore, although I’ve no firm plans for where I’m going yet, that depends on a client’s shot list arriving in my inbox tomorrow.
Right now it’s time to go. I’ve got stuff to prepare and a cottage to sort out for the folks who’ll be looking after it whilst we’re away. I’ll leave you with an image from the last time we visited Duxford. The chance to see so many vintage Spitfires is a rare one, but in 2015…
10 of the 22 Spitfires in flight at Duxford in September 2015. If you’ve any interest in planes powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines you can just imagine how this sounded.
You can see some more pictures of the aircraft we saw at Duxford here.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 